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So, you want to use technology in class? But, what comes first: the language or the webtool? Rather than finding a use in the classroom for technology, the teacher should consider the language being taught first and then consider what technology can be used for which purposes inside and outside of the classroom. Based on ideas presented in the book Language Learning with Technology (Stanley, 2013) and Innovations in Learning Technologies for English Language Teaching (Ed. by Motteram, 2013 and available for download here: http://tinyurl.com/nn26re5), participants will hopefully have a better idea of how to approach using technology/webtools in their teaching as well as seeing examples of how others have used them in their practice Bio: Graham Stanley is Country Director for the British Council in Uruguay, working principally on the Plan Ceibal English project, teaching primary school children English in Uruguay via video-conferencing. He has an M.Ed in ELT &amp; Educational Technology and his latest handbook for teachers, &amp;apos;Learning Languages with Technology&amp;apos; (CUP, 2013) was overall winner in the English Speaking Union HRH Duke of Edinburgh Award English Language Book Awards and his previous book, &amp;apos;Digital Play: Computer games and language aims&amp;apos; won the British Council ELT Innovation award (ELTon) for teacher resources in 2012.

As a teacher, how do you feel about educational technology in your own classroom? Talk to your partner and tell them if you use it much and if so, how you use it.

Do you or do any of your colleagues feel uncomfortable about educational technology? Do you know anyone who refuses to use it?

One of the reasons why language learning technology has got a bad name with some teachers is when technology is used without much thought for the pedagogy or language aims of the class – to be effective, LLT needs always to be used to support the aims of the lesson and assist in helping the learners practice or learn the language better than if technology was not used. We need to make sure that technology is not being used for the sake of it – Avoid the Everest Syndrome: i.e. Why use Technology? Because it’s there!

Here are some wrong ways to approach using LLT

Reading about how others use technology in their classrooms can be inspiring – I recommend looking at this book of case studies and reflections on the use of technology in language teaching around the world and across the board, from the primary classroom to secondary, teens, university and adults.

I also recommend looking for ideas in handbooks specially written for teachers, such as this one which I wrote (Cambridge, 2013), which was overall winner in the 2014 HRH English Language Book Award presented by the English Speaking Union. Differing from other handbooks for teachers, Language Learning with Technology looks at different language skills and areas and gives ideas how the use of technology can help teachers. For the rest of this workshop, I am going to look at examples from each of these areas, using webtools to support the language areas.

Just if we have time, let&amp;apos;s look at some cretive writing prompts, which can help learners get started with writing stories, etc.

The first involves a project which has been used in ELT for many years. It involves asking the learners to work in groups and design an island, which is then used as the setting for subsequent classroom activities.

In my classroom oif teenagers (13-14 year-olds), I asked them to work in groups and decide on the shape of their island. Then I asked them to add natural features (lakes, mountains, forests, etc) and then man-made features (cities, etc). I then scanned their drawings and traced over them on the IWB. Doing this allowed me to manipulate the islands very easily – I can make them bigger or smaller, duplicate elements of thei island (trees, mountains, etc).

I placed the four student created islands together on a map and added an island that I created, which is the one I use for the students&amp;apos; adventures – some of the classroom activities take place on this mysterious islands. This way, I can add a narrative element to different activities I do in class.

One of the first activities I asked the learners to do was to write descriptions of the islands and some of the places on the islands. These became part of a growing &amp;apos;Tourist Guide&amp;apos; to the islands.

One of the first activities I asked the learners to do was to write descriptions of the islands and some of the places on the islands. These became part of a growing &amp;apos;Tourist Guide&amp;apos; to the islands.

There are lots of activities that you can do with the island. These are some sources of information that I know of that can be used.

One of the activities I&amp;apos;ve recently done with my learners as part of the island project is to play a game called &amp;apos;Werewolves of Miller&amp;apos;s Hollow&amp;apos; – this is absed on a popular game called &amp;apos;Mafia&amp;apos;, which originated in a Psychology classroom at a university in Russia during the 1980&amp;apos;s

This is the goal of the game. On eof the interesting things about the game is that it is scaleable – you can play with as few as 5 players and as many as 30. It&amp;apos;s also adaptable to different levels and ages.

The game has 2 different turns. Each night, the werewolves claim another victim. During the day, the villagers gather and after finding out who died, they talk about what they heard, etc. and try to figure out who the werewolves are. One of the most important things about the game is the role of the storyteller (narrator), a role that should be taken (at least at first) by the teacher. It&amp;apos;s your job to animate the villagers into talking. As this is a fluency activity, I suggest not spending too much attention on errors, although it&amp;apos;s useful to tke note of any language your learners produce thast could be improved – the errors can be dealt with after you&amp;apos;ve played the game.

The best way of understanding how this might work in the classroom is to play the game, so if it&amp;apos;s alright with you, that&amp;apos;s what I&amp;apos;d like to do now.

The game continues. Some ideas for improving on the game in the classroom may be: asking the learners to write role-cards for their characters (who they are, what they do, where they live, etc.) You could also get them to write rumours (on a grafitti wall, etc.)

Thanks for your attention – please let me know if you try out any of these activities or if you have any comments ro questions about anything in the presentation.

Here are the references to the books I mentioned in the presentation, and the image I used here too.

32.
Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow
Goal of the game:
For the villagers:
eliminate the werewolves
For the werewolves:
eat the villagers

33.
Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow
Each night, one villager is devoured by the
werewolves
During the day they try to hide their identities to
avoid being hanged.
Each morning the surviving villagers come
together and try to discover who the werewolves
are.

34.
Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow
It’s night and the entire village is sleeping.
All players close your eyes
The werewolves wake up,
Recognise each other and
choose a new victim

35.
Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow
It’s morning and the village wakes up
All players open your eyes
The Narrator points out any
victims the werewolves ate
during the night